Always
by FionaSkellington
Summary: Matt wasn't expecting a call from anyone. Especially not the best friend he hasn't seen in years. When he drives to the destroyed building where he finds Mello's burned body, he couldn't believe it was real. And that Mello was finally back. MATTELLO! :P
1. Chapter 1

Matt stared at the computer screen, fingers flying over the keys as he hacked yet another bank account for more money. He saw some…satisfying results, to say the least. He grinned before closing his laptop with a click.

His cell phone began to ring.

He didn't recognize the number.

Matt's eyebrows wrinkled together above the goggles. No one knew his cell phone number except for the people he was hacking for. He opened the cell phone anyway.

"Ah, hello?"

Static. "M–M–Matt?" More static. That voice…he knew it from somewhere. He couldn't completely place it.

"Who is this?"

"M–Matt I need–need your help."

"Who is this?" Matt asked again. He was about to hang up when one more staticky word came through.

"Mello."

Matt almost dropped the phone.

"M–Matt–"

"Where are you?" he asked frantically. He was certain he heard a gasp that sounded like he was in pain.

Matt barely made out the staticky voice telling him an address, which he quickly typed into Google Maps before scratching his head and asking, "Mello? Mels, are you okay?"

"Matt–"

And the phone cut out.

"Shit! Mello!" With no answer from the other line, Matt snapped his phone shut and bolted to his car.

Part of him was happier than he could explain that he'd finally found Mello–or more that Mello had found him–but then there was the other part that knew something had to be very, very wrong for it to happen like this.

Matt, as usual, sped way over the limit. This time, in a forty MPH (or something) zone, he was going over a hundred. He wasn't looking at the gauge, though, but more of a guess in the very back of his head.

There were police cars at least a block away from the address. Matt could totally imagine Mello doing something like this.

Chewing his lip almost to the point of bleeding, Matt pulled over sharply and ran out, behind buildings and in side streets until he got to the address.

Where there were the remains of a huge building.

Fantastic.

"Shit." Matt started running. He hadn't known he could run that fast before then, but it didn't matter. Something was wrong with Mello.

Matt hid between big chunks of walls until he got out of eyeshot of the police and the other people. "Mello?" he called out. "Mello, where are you?"

There was a groan. Having no leads, Matt took it. "Mello? Is it you?"

"Matt…"

"Mello!" Matt stumbled forward to where he was certain he'd heard the voice. "Mello!"

"Fuck, Matt."

That was definitely Mello.

The rest, after the realization that this _was_, in fact, reality, was not quite a blur, but seemed to go so quickly it was hard to keep up.

The first thing Matt noticed was that, while he had stayed mostly the same, Mello looked different. Instead of just long black pants and a long sleeved black t-shirt, Mello was wearing all skin-tight leather (in the back of Matt's head, he had to admit it was _really_ hot). Half-covered by his blond hair was an enormous burn mark that stretched down to his shoulder, and probably lower, but it was hard to tell. Matt picked up Mello (he was still madly skinny, even though it was perfectly reasonable that he still ate mostly chocolate) with one arm behind his neck and the other under his knees, and Mello's head lolled against his chest.

Occasionally bleeding fingers would clench tightly in the cloth of Matt's shirt, and then unclench just as quickly. Balancing Mello on his chest, Matt shifted him slightly so he could open the passenger door, making Mello gasp.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, just hold on," he murmured as he strapped the mostly-unconscious Mello into the seat. "Just hold on, okay?"

"Fuck you."

"That's my Mels."

Matt drove as quickly as he could without hitting too many bumps (seeing as every time he did hit one, Mello would groan and clench his teeth and arch into the chair, and Matt would apologize seemingly endlessly.

When they reached the shabby apartment, Matt wasn't quite sure how to get Mello inside. He thought for a second, but when Mello gasped again he grabbed him, holding him the way he had before, and would continuously balance him awkwardly whenever he had to open a door.

Matt gently placed Mello down on the cough after shoving all the electronics away with his foot (almost tipping over in the process) and raked his fingers through his hair. He had _no_ idea what to do.

But he had to do something.

So Matt rushed to the bathroom in the hopes of finding a med kit of some sort; after about five minutes of searching (that, for both of them, felt like so much longer) he finally found one with creams and bandages and things. He ran back out to Mello, who was gripping the un-burnt side of his forehead with his not-bloody hand and gritting his teeth and groaning.

"Shit, Mels, it'll be okay, 'kay?"

"Fuck _off_."

Matt almost smiled. "If I did that, you'd be kinda screwed," he pointed out, bending down so he was level with Mello. "I need to save your sorry ass, so don't shoot me or anything, okay?"

"What-fucking-ever."

Matt's eyebrows knit together and he picked out a few little pills that were supposed to help with pain or whatever, but he was mostly hoping for the best. "Take these."

It must have hurt a lot, because Mello swallowed them without comment.

Matt peeled off the leather, dropping another pill in Mello's mouth when he started to shout strings of swears in various languages at him. Once the leather was all gone and lying in a heap on the floor, Matt cleaned everything off and began to spread some weird-smelling goo all over the burns (which were even bigger than he'd thought), and then began to wrap them. He almost ran out of bandages and reminded himself to go get more; he knew he'd have to change them soon enough.

Almost an hour later, Mello was straightened out on the couch in one of Matt's stripy shirts (it was huge on him) and some baggy, cottony pants that Matt had found in the bottom of some drawer.

"I'll be back soon, okay?" Matt said. "I have to go get more stuff."

Mello turned his head so he was facing Matt and groaned something. Matt thought it was him saying 'okay,' or something along those lines, but when Mello reached a hand over, squeezing Matt's gloved hand tightly, he repeated what he'd try to say just before.

"Don't leave."

Matt's resolve wavered. He had to get more bandages and goo–he knew that–but…

"Okay," he said. "I'll stay."

"Thanks," Mello croaked. His grip on Matt's hand loosened and he tugged slightly.

Matt, even though he hadn't seen his friend in years, knew what Mello meant, no matter what he did, and this wasn't any different.

Matt stood up so he could get to the couch easier, without tripping over anything, and held Mello a few inches in the air so he could squeeze himself onto the couch next to him, being careful that their bodies didn't touch.

"Thank you," Mello mumbled against Matt's shirt.

"Always."


	2. Chapter 2

Helloooooo whoever's reading this I totally forgot to put any sort of A/N…you know…ANYWHERE in the last chapter (roflcopterdinosaur) so here it is. But it's for this one. Oh well. As is (hopefully) pretty obvious when and whereish the last one is, this is Matt (or Mello, whichever, I mean, it's third person) remembering (or something…?) the night Mello left before Matt found Mello all blown-up and whatnot (and don't you just love how he has this big-ass scar on his face, and yet his hair is just as epically awesome as before? I love it. A lot. lol.)

Anyway. I'd been writing and rewriting and rewriting (and so on) a one-shot or something of when Mello leaves, but never actually finishing it. So I finally get this thing published (yay!) and I'm all like I WILL CONQUER YOU! so I wrote it XP also cause I saw this awesome fanart by ~tokiyoh (.com/art/DEATH-NOTE-MNM-Kurai-M-23668356. You should go see it. It rocks my stripy socks.) and I was like…yeah…I'm definitely gonna add that. Anyway again. Here you go.

Oh. Right. By the way–it starts out when the first chapter ended, and then there'll be a space or whatever, and it goes back to when Mello left, so whenever there's a big space, it changes, just if it's not obvious at a particular spot.

I also don't own DN. Or any of the characters. If I did, L, Matt, and Mello wouldn't be dead and they'd all be in it a lot more. **goes and sobs in a bathroom**

Mello had fallen asleep (and Matt had freaked out thinking he'd died or something for a second, but he hadn't, of course) and was in the same position he had been when Matt had climbed onto the couch just before, because moving hurt too much. Way too much.

He didn't feel like he was on fire all over, only where he'd gotten actually burned, and where he'd gotten scrapes and cuts from bits of building. But where it did hurt, it hurt a_ lot_. There was no middle ground for this; only to extremes, rather like Mello could be.

How cruel.

"Mello?" Matt asked at the slammed door (that poor door…) and Mello storming in, looking like a monster that was about to eat someone (who was probably Near, little albino bastard). "You okay?"

"Of course I'm not o-_fucking_-kay!" he shouted. "Do I look okay?"

Matt glanced up from his video game and looked Mello up and down. He actually looked pretty adorable, in a I'm-gonna-shoot-you kind of way that only Matt could see the adorableness in. If Mello knew Matt thought this, he would probably be dead within seconds. "Nope. What happened now?"

"Goddamn albino sheep crap Near!"

Matt wasn't surprised. "What'd he do now?"

"L's dead and he didn't pick a successor and they're all like 'Oh, why don't you work together or some shit?' and I'm all **facepalm extreme** and he's fucking annoying!"

Matt blinked. L was dead? He'd only ever talked to him through a computer, but still…

And the rest of what Mello had just said hit him in the face.

"So what did you do?"

Mello wasn't listening. He was, instead, flying around the room (he was going so fast, it looked like he maybe actually was) with a black backpack in his hand, shoving in chocolate and clothes and money, and then more chocolate.

"Mello…" Matt said slowly, nervously. "What are you doing?"

"What's it look like I'm doing?" he mumbled. "I'm leaving. What else can I do? I can't just sit here and let Near go all…whatever. I can't do that." He almost took one of Matt's videogames in his hurry before realizing that it wasn't his and that he never played games anyway.

Matt dropped his DS onto the bed and stood up so quickly he almost tripped over his boots. "You can't do that!"

Mello gave him a blank stare. "That's why I'm leaving."

"No, Mels, I mean you _can't leave_. Please." Matt didn't know what he'd do without Mello. He was, quite possibly, the most antisocial person at Wammy's except for Near (but he might as well be a really smart sheep, so he didn't count). Matt didn't have any friends at all except for Mello.

Matt would be lost.

"Well I can't just stay here, and as far as I know I can't disappear into thin air. If you have any brains at all you can see it's my only option."

"Mello." Matt stepped closer and grabbed hold of Mello's arm. "No. Please."

The resolve in Mello's eyes wavered for just a second before he shook off Matt's hand and turned around, fumbling through the bag.

"I have to go," he said quietly. "I just came 'cause I need clothes. And to say bye."

"Mello, don't."

"I can't stay here!" Mello exploded, spinning around so his hair was a mess in his face until he brushed it furiously away with his hand.

"I'll come with–"

"NO!" Mello shouted. "You can't come with me! You'll…you'll get hurt."

"If _you're_ gonna get hurt," Matt said, "then you should need some backup or something. Please."

"No. I–I'm sorry." It was the first time Matt had heard Mello apologize for anything. "I–" but he cut himself off, biting his lip, and turned to the window.

"Mello, don't you dare." Getting no response, Matt (completely accidentally, mind you) grabbed Mello's arm again, this time yanking him closer. The bag fell to the floor with a bang.

"Matt," he said, sounding dangerous. "Stop."

Matt shook his head, any hair that wasn't caught in his goggles swinging around his head in a red halo.

"Let. Go."

Matt looked up at Mello, staring at his icy blue eyes, almost white through the goggles (A/N at least I'm pretty sure they'd be; that's how pale blues look through my Matt goggles :P). Mello couldn't see his eyes, but he knew they were looking at his.

Matt took a breath. No one was saying anything, but Mello was slowly inching himself away from Matt and closer to the open window. The only thing Matt could think of…

He threw his other arm around Mello's shoulder, making him swear, but it stopped completely when Matt's mouth collided with Mello's. His eyes widened and he went perfectly still.

Matt wasn't a pushy person; he never had been, and kissing Mello wasn't different. After hesitantly touching his tongue to Mello's lips, still getting no response, he dropped his arms and stepped back, out of range of Mello's fists.

Mello just stood there, staring wide-eyed at Matt.

"Sorry," he mumbled, with no other explanation as he plopped back to the bed and picked up his game again. He was blushing a furious red, hoping that Mello wasn't paying attention to _that_. "I…um…sorry."

Mello blinked, and did nothing other than that for a few more seconds. He then walked quietly over to Matt's bed, but Matt could hear his feet against the floor and, terrified for his life, paused his game and put it in the safe-zone of under his pillow.

"You kissed me," Mello pointed out.

"Yeah," Matt mumbled, extremely embarrassed. "Sorry."

"_Sorry_?"

"Uh, yeah," Matt said, eyes glancing over Mello's face, but he was too scared to look at the blue ones now just a few inches in front of him. "Sorry."

"Sorry," Mello repeated with a scoff. He bent down, and Matt prepared for the worst; getting beaten up by Mello wasn't fun. It was a fact. Not even the most screwed-up masochist would think so.

But he didn't get a punch. Not even his hair yanked, or his goggles getting pulled back only to snap and hit him hard in the face.

Mello bent his head down and touched his lips to Matt's. This time it was green eyes that widened. But when Mello's tongue ghosted out to touch his lips, Matt's eyes closed again and he opened his mouth just enough for Mello's tongue to sneak inside.

Mello, without breaking the kiss that Matt (and, even more secretly, Mello) had only imagined having, climbed up on top of the bed and shifted Matt a bit so they were lying on their sides, front to front. It was very warm, and a bit sloppy, but…hmm. Mello tasted like chocolate. Matt tasted warm, like warm cookies without the cookie part.

"Mello…" Matt murmured when their lips parted, foreheads resting together and breath mingling. "What are you doing?"

"What's it look like I'm doing?" Mello whispered, with a completely different meaning than before. "Dumbass."

"Crap-face."

"Bitch."

"Jerk."

Both of them closed their eyes and smiled before simultaneously tilting their chins up, mouths meeting in the middle.

Mello slid his arms around Matt's waist, pulling him even closer, and Matt put his arms around the back of Mello's neck, doing the same.

"Take these off," Mello mumbled, tugging lightly at the goggles still on Matt's head. Matt nodded, grabbing another quick kiss, before yanking the goggles off and expertly tossing them to a desk.

A while later (but, honestly, who pays any attention to the time when you're making out?), Matt and Mello were curled up to each other, Mello's chin on Matt's forehead getting tickled by his hair, and Matt with his fingers curled in Mello's loose shirt.

"Mello?"

"Uh-huh?"

"I love you."

Mello's eyes widened. So this _hadn't_ just been a plan to get him to stay (well. It sort of was. But it wasn't like Matt was going to make out with Mello and say he loved him just to keep a friend with him).

"Are you awake?" Matt asked, turning his head up to try to look at Mello's face.

"I love you too," Mello said quietly, giving Matt a squeeze and smiling when he snuggled more into Mello's chest.

(Rightio. This isn't a spot where it goes back to the time it was in chapter 1. Just a little after the part everyone loves.)

Two hours later, Mello woke up to the sound of rain pounding on the windows. His arms were still wrapped around Matt, and Matt was still curled up on him in the same position as before. He tensed momentarily, but relaxed again a moment later.

Then he remembered what he'd come back to his room for in the first place.

The small smile that he hadn't noticed yet slipped from his face. Biting his lip, he pulled his arms back and untangled Matt's fingers from his shirt, careful not to wake him up. He glanced to the floor; his bag was still there, where he'd dropped it.

Mello picked up the backpack and slung it over one shoulder before turning back to Matt and carefully putting it back down. Matt looked so…young. Not in a weird way or whatever, just so…it was weird. He didn't want to leave.

But he couldn't stay.

Just like that bastard life to give him exactly what he wanted right when he wouldn't be able to have it.

Matt.

Mello let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding and walked to the desk where Matt's goggles had been tossed, and searched for a pen and scrap of paper. He probably should go to his own desk, he realized, as it was so much neater.

On a piece of lined paper, with his favorite pen (it was wrapped in the tinfoil wrapper of the first chocolate bar Matt had given him, when he'd first gotten to Wammy's), he scribbled a note. He rewrote it seven times until it was finally right.

Mello put it on Matt's desk, next to his goggles, and gave Matt one last kiss on his forehead before climbing out the window into the thunder and pouring rain with one last whisper. "I'm sorry."

(Again, just a couple hours later, not, like, a bunch of years or anything.)

When Matt woke up, it was…colder than it probably should have been; not exactly cold, per se, but not warm, either. It had been very warm with Mello in the bed with him. Maybe he was getting more chocolate or something.

Matt sat up, running his fingers through his messier-than-usual hair and smiling to himself about last night.

He was ecstatic.

To say the _very_ least.

He stumbled out of the bed and stretched, blinking a few times before trudging to his desk to get his goggles.

There was a piece of paper on top of them.

Huh.

Matt picked it up so he could read it–though it was probably just Mello telling him he was getting food.

But it wasn't.

Far from it.

_Matt_

_I am so sorry. I really, really am. But I _have_ to go. Please don't hate me, or at least for not too long. Don't look for me either. I might find you. I don't know._

_But I'm sorry._

_Beat up Near for me, if you feel like it._

_I love you._

_Mello._

Matt stared in disbelief. How could he have just _left_? Matt's eyes stung, but he wouldn't let it go further.

After staying unmoving for a while, much longer than usual, Matt pulled his goggled up and rubbed furiously at his eyes before folding the piece of paper carefully (OCD carefully, mind you) and put it in the pocket of the vest that was hanging on the back of his chair.

Matt's first urge was to sob under the blankets.

His first actually logical plan was to climb out the window and hope Mello hadn't gotten too far away.

"Mello!" he shouted, one foot out of the window. He hauled himself all the way and dropped to the ground, ignoring the pain in his ankle. "Mello!"

He ran for a few hours, but probably more. There was no sign of Mello _anywhere_.

"Mello," he finally croaked miserably, turning back in the direction of Wammy's. It didn't take as long this time, as he was going in a straight line, but it still took a while.

"Mello," he repeated, over and over again, like it would bring him back if he said it enough times.

He climbed back into the bed. He wasn't going to move for today, at least.

The pillow still smelled like Mello.

(Now it's back to blowyuppytime :P)


	3. Chapter 3

Helloooooo!!!!!!! Thanks everyone who reviewed and faved and such whatnots :D I wuv you now ^__^

Anyway. I have to put this here 'cause it wasn't SAVING (!!!!!!!!!!) so if this is repetitive, you can skip it. Or not. 'S all good :P

I'd realized that there hadn't been a big space for the time change (or whatever you call it), but it was right after it said 'how cruel.' Sorry about that.

And if anyone got the reference, I will give you an epic tackle hug. It's from supernatural. And the hug…it's truly the most epic epic hug you'll ever get.

Sorry that it took a while (depending on how you look at it…?) for me to update, I've been really busy writing my own book (I'm almost done and I actually have some people to send it to!) and getting ready to go to Washington on a school trip, where I'll be cosplaying as L on the first day and Matt on the second :D super-duper happy ^___^

Anyway.

And this is blowyuppytime. Or thereabouts… no. it's blowyuppytime :P

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~LINES!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"FUCK!"

Matt jolted backwards, resulting in him falling to the floor with a bang. He rubbed the back of his head.

"This hurts like a fucking _bitch_!"

Matt looked up before stumbling to his feet. Mello was awake (the little voice in Matt's head was scared for his life), holding his forehead with his hand, now not bleeding anymore, and the fingers of his other hand were gripping the couch so hard his knuckles turned stark white.

"MATT!" Mello shouted. His eyes were covered with his palm, but Matt could practically _feel_ the death-glare. It was the sort of death glare that, if Mello were glaring just thinking of someone on the other side of the planet from him, they'd probably get a headache. "Get me chocolate!"

Matt blinked behind his goggles. After getting _blown up,_ for fuck's sake, the first fully conscious thing he asks for is _chocolate_?

Most of him wasn't too surprised.

"Yeah, hold on," Matt said, running to his tiny kitchen, tripping every other step over games and bits of computers and stacks of cigarette boxes. Did he even have chocolate? He probably should have thought about that first, knowing Mello, but it wasn't like he'd had much of a chance to get any.

The only chocolate he could find was hot chocolate mix. That very well _might_ have gone bad (did it even _go_ bad?), but what did Matt know.

"Matt…" Mello's voice was rough and scratchy, but it sounded even more like he wanted to shoot somebody (if that was even possible) than usual. "If I don't have chocolate _right now_ someone's gonna die."

"I'm getting it, hold on just a sec," Matt called back. Should he tell Mello there wasn't any actual solid chocolate? Probably not…less time for Mello to find something to throw at Matt's head. After sticking the milk in the microwave, putting the chocolate mix in it, and putting it back in the microwave, Matt went as fast as he could back to the couch, where Mello was glaring at him before he even came through the door.

"What is that?" Mello asked flatly.

"Hot chocolate."

"I said I wanted _chocolate_," Mello grumbled.

"It is chocolate! It's just all…liquid."

Mello made a face, wincing when he accidentally moved the burned half of his face, and snatched the mug away from Matt.

He took a sip, twitching one eyebrow up when it wasn't nearly as bad as he thought it would be. He looked up at Matt (and having Mello just_ look_ at you wasn't very comfortable).

"What?"

"You look exactly the same as before," Mello said quietly, going back to his hot chocolate.

Matt gave a blank stare without moving from his place by the couch.

"You don't," Matt finally said. "You're all…" He flailed his hands around uselessly. "Um, yeah."

"Mad smexy?"

Matt turned a faint shade of pinkish and babbled for a second. Mello raised his eyebrows until they were hidden by his hairline and laughed.

Mello cringed. "Ah, fuck, it hurts."

Matt scrambled back. "Painkillers? Crap, what do I do?"

"Painkillers!" Mello shouted at him.

"Okay, okay, two seconds."

"AND GET ME SOME REAL GODDAMN CHOCOLATE!"

Matt ran into the bathroom to find some more painkillers. He _really_ needed to get more stuff. He'd just get it all when he was getting the chocolate, too. When he got back to Mello, he was pressing his head against the armrest, and his fingers were knotted in his clumped blond hair.

"Mello, it's okay, just hold on a second."

Mello grunted something, but Matt couldn't quite understand him. He just kept murmuring as he gave Mello a few small pills. Matt gripped Mello's hand until his breathing got less heavy and he stopped gritting his teeth.

"It's okay…" Matt said quietly. Mello mumbled something back, but it was as unintelligible as what he'd been trying to say before. Matt clambered up onto the couch and held Mello up (he was freakishly skinny for someone who ate that much chocolate) so he could slide under him, holding the blond up in a sitting position. Mello's head rolled back onto Matt's shoulder.

Matt decided to wait until Mello woke up to get his chocolate.

********Not nowish, m'kay? Like…Wammy's, but before Mello left. Don't worry, this is confusing me a little bit too XP********

Matt and Mello, only nine and ten, walked into the cafeteria and blinked at the sudden noise assaulting them when they opened the door. Near was, as usual, sitting on his own and blankly playing with a small collection of robots. Mello glared. Until recently, they had been…civil with each other. Mello didn't really like anyone but Matt, but he hadn't outright _loathed_ Near. Now, most of his good dreams involved him throttling the albino freak and destroying his toys in a guillotine.

Matt noticed this, as he always did, and squeezed Mello's hand reassuringly. Mello looked sideways at Matt, unable to keep himself from smiling a little, and squeezed back.

"I'm sure you'll get a chance to at least _kick_ him soon enough," Matt whispered.

"I'd better," Mello whispered back, and they got their food and sat as far away as they could from Near.

It still _totally_ felt like he was staring at them.

Ew.

Matt snuck a glance at Mello between bites of pizza. He was glaring at a piece of celery (he _hated_ celery), the last piece of food on his plate. Matt heard Mello's stomach growl softly, and looked back to his uneaten piece of cake. Mello had been studying nonstop, all night for a test. Matt hadn't seen the importance of it, and hadn't studied at all, but Mello was absolutely exhausted, despite his Red Bulls and coffee. He probably hadn't eaten, either.

"Mello?"

"Huh."

"You want it?" Matt held the cake out in his tiny, gloved hand. The gloves were too big, and the parts where his fingertips should be were dangling down a bit.

"Aren't you hungry?" Mello mumbled, but he didn't take his eyes off the cake.

"I don't really like cake," Matt lied. It wasn't his favorite food, but he didn't particularly dislike it.

"Yes you do," Mello said. "You eat it."

"I don't want it," Matt pressed, jabbing his hand closer to Mello until he finally sighed and took the plate.

Mello smiled. "Thanks, Matty."

Back in the room that they shared, Mello was sitting on Matt's bed with his arms crossed, occasionally elbowing him until he got a response.

"Christ, Mello, what?"

"That fucking Near," he mumbled. "Did you see that freak? He was just staring at me, twirling his fucking white hair–who the hell has white hair, anyway?–and _smiling!_ Like something horrible was gonna happen! Near doesn't fucking smile! What the fuck!"

"Uh, yeah." Matt was playing videogames, and he'd heard this rant before (almost every day, really). Nothing new.

"Matt! You're not listening! What the hell!"

~~~~~~~~~~~LINE!~~~~~~~~~~~

Matt jolted awake, almost tipping him and Mello off the couch at the same time.

"What the bloody goddamned–?"

"Sorry Mello," Matt said, accidentally running a hand through the blond hair. It was still soft and not-blown-up, as if it had forgotten the fact that right near it, the skin had been burned so bad it didn't look even remotely normal. Mello's hair just had to be a superhero, then, didn't it?

"You get my chocolate?" Mello mumbled. Even though Matt had been nervous about getting something thrown at his head, with lots of other horrible things, Mello curled up even closer to Matt.

"No, I didn't want you to wake up and have me not be here."

"I'm not a fucking five-year-old, Matt."

"I could've gotten kidnapped by the FBI for all you know," Matt said. "So ha."

"Wow, you're fucking brilliant. And if you got kidnapped, they'd totally just leave me here, after getting you out from under me without me waking up. How the hell did you get into Wammy's, anyway?"

"Whatever. Do you want chocolate or not?"

"Get me my fucking chocolate!"

Matt smiled. This was typical chocolate-deprived Mello. _Mello_. He slid out from under his friend and searched around for his wallet, finding it under a stack of CDs and games after a few minutes of Mello shouting at him random places where it might be.

"Be back in a little bit, 'kay?"

"Again, idiot, not a fucking five-year-old."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ (lol that's fun)

anyway. Sorry it's short, I have to leave for DC tomorrow for a trip and I wanted to get something uploaded before I left (WHERE I WILL HAVE NO COMPUTER! WTF!)

And you know what really sucks? My ipod touch, which already had a small crack, fell down a flight and a half of stairs. Now there's a spiderweb crack, AND part of it's too jagged for me to just be really careful with. Now I have to use my uber-old (like…G1) nano which only has four gigs. Wtf. And I cant watch death note or nightmare before Christmas :'(


	4. Chapter 4

Haaaaaaai!!!!! Sorry I haven't updated in absurdly long. I left for this trip (I cosplayed as L. Good fun) and when I get back…my internet's broken. *facepalm* Then I was out like ALL WEEKEND (it was tragic with a capital T. kudos if you get that, btw) and then I had all this school stuff. The world's trying to kill me. But I digress. This also might be the last chapter, but once I get all this school crap and other crap under control, I'll probably be starting another fanfic from when they're at Wammy's. Maybe. Idk :P

This is the day before (I guess…?) the day Matt and Mello die. I cried. A lot.

~~~~~~~~~!!!!!!LINE!!!!!!!!~~~~~~~~~

"Matt?"

Matt grunted and looked up at Mello for a fraction of a second before going back to his game.

"Nyuh-huh."

"Matt! Look at me, asshole!"

Smirking, Matt paused his game and looked up, sighing mentally–he was almost done with his level.

Mello wasn't like Matt; when Matt was stressed and scared completely shitless, you probably wouldn't be able to tell. All he did was lose himself completely in his pixilated worlds, even more than usual. When _Mello_ was stressed and scared completely shitless, on the other hand, he hit things and screamed a lot. It wasn't fun.

"I'm looking," Matt said, sounding very bored, when in actuality, he was just as scared as Mello. He just wasn't showing it.

Mello glared and, out of the corner of his eye, looked for something to throw at Matt, but decided against it at the last second.

"We might fucking _die_," Mello mumbled to himself. "And you're fucking playing Zelda or something."

"Shit, Mello, watch your fucking language," Matt said jokingly, but he put his game down on the couch and stood up, wrapping his arms around Mello's waist. "Stop being such a pessimist."

Mello huffed and didn't move. "It's called being realistic, idiot."

"Yeah," Matt agreed half-heartedly, "_Or,_ you could stop being so depressing. 'Cause it's depressing. And that's not very fun, is it?"

"No shit, Sherlock."

Rolling his eyes, Matt put his head on Mello's shoulder until he finally put his own arms around Matt's neck.

"It's gonna be fine," Matt murmured into Mello's shirt. "Stop freaking out."

"Whatever."

"You don't believe me," Matt said. "Chill out, m'kay? So stop panicking or I'll have to…something."

Mello didn't say anything. He pulled slightly back from Matt, who unconsciously stuck out his bottom lip. Instead of obsessing even more over plans, like Matt thought he would, Mello caught Matt's lip between his and squeezed his arms around Matt's neck tighter.

Matt gasped, which only made it easier for Mello to slip his tongue inside his gamer's mouth. Matt smiled; it wasn't like he'd been planning this, but it was more of an added bonus than anything else. He slid his hands back so they were resting on Mello's hips instead of clasped around his back. Mello's hands switched position too, choosing instead to wrap around Matt's torso, under his arms. Without waiting for any sort of response (even though there really wouldn't be much of one anyway), he hoisted Matt up, making him emit a funny sound between a gasp and a squeal, and practically tossed him onto the couch before climbing over him.

This wasn't how Mello usually was; Mello was always the more dominant one, the one who initiated things more (mostly because Matt knew if he did anything first, Mello would get all 'inferiority complex personified,' as Matt called it, and that wasn't a pleasant sight). But Mello seemed…rushed today. Frantic.

"Mello," Matt breathed between bruising kisses. "What are you doing?"

He didn't say anything, choosing instead to lean back down and capturing Matt's lips in his. Mello's fingers began to run down Matt's sides, not quite enough to be ticklish, but enough to make Matt arch up slightly and push more against Mello's body. Matt made a small noise that wasn't quite loud enough to be a groan, but still very adorable (according to Mello) and dropped his head to the armrest, giving Mello more access to the smooth skin of his neck.

Matt shivered as Mello put kisses along his jaw, nipping slightly in a few spots, but not hard enough to leave a mark. Mello slid his hands under Matt's shirt, making him shiver again at the feeling of the leather against his skin.

Matt ducked his head down and crushed his lips back against Mello's, only pausing to let Mello pull the striped shirt up over his head. And then Mello did a second unexpected thing, fumbling with the zipper on Matt's jeans. It wasn't like it hadn't happened yet, but…Mello was acting so scared.

"Mello," Matt gasped again. "What are you doing?"

"Panicking."

~~~~~~~~~~here comes the LINE AGAIN!~~~~~~~~~~~~

Matt blinked and rubbed at his eyes with the back of his hand. He was about to sit up, but he only then realized Mello's arm strewn haphazardly over his chest. He hadn't completely stopped himself from moving, though, and Mello's arm tightened around him. Matt closed his eyes and nuzzled up against Mello's shoulder.

Then Matt realized that day it was.

Fuck.

Matt's eyes shot open and his whole body tensed at once.

He didn't want to move. Even if he did, he'd probably get a tired, angry Mello, and that wasn't very pleasant.

So Matt waited for another fifteen or so minutes until Mello moved too, and there was the identical initial panic before he forced himself to act calm, at least on the outside. Both of them were still freaking out at a million miles a minute.

Neither of them said anything as they searched around the room for whatever clothes they could find, kicking yesterday's into a pile in the corner. It wasn't until Matt was sprawled out on the couch, DS in hand for the…he'd lost track of how long he'd been playing, that Mello said anything.

"Matt?" It was closer to a hoarse whisper than his usual voice. It sounded miserable.

Matt glanced up for less than a second before pausing and looking directly at Mello. "Huh."

"I think we should go."

Matt couldn't tell what just happened–he'd either gone very, very pale, or his heart got screwy and started skipping, or he just looked dead he went so still. Maybe all three.

"Oh. Right."

Matt turned his game off, and he couldn't help but wonder if it would be for the last time. He didn't even have enough faith, for lack of a better word, in his surviving this that he could logically tell himself not to think like that. He wasn't supposed to die, yes, Mello had made certain of that, but still. You couldn't go into a car-chase without that possibility.

They walked numbly outside, Mello headed towards his bike and Matt towards his car.

_You know what?_ Matt thought._ What the hell. If I die, at least it's badass. Better than tripping over a fucking toaster._

"Matt…"

He looked up at his name to see Mello, much closer to him than he'd sounded.

"Um, yeah."

Mello's eyes flickered; he failed at trying see Matt's through the goggles, so instead of forgetting about it, he pulled them down so they dangled around Matt's neck.

Mello threw his arms around Matt's shoulders and shoved their lips together, not giving Matt enough time to give Mello permission to slide his tongue across the gamer's bottom lip and inside.

Matt slid his arms around Mello's waist, neither of them caring if anyone was staring at them. They were probably dying soon, for fuck's sake.

"Mello," whispered Matt, "I love you."

"I love you."

The bullets went through him, stinging and tearing, burning and bitterly cold at the same time.

Matt fell back, hitting the car on his way to the pavement.

_Mello._

And then black.

"Oh, Matt," Mello whispered as he looked at the screen. "You weren't supposed to die. I'm sorry."

When he heard the scribbling, he couldn't even think. It was like his brain had frozen.

Oh fucking shit.

Mello counted down, knowing there was nothing he could do.

His last thought was of Matt, his favorite redhead with his stupid games and his stupid cigarettes.

And then, the same as with Matt, it was black.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~dundundunduuuuuun!!!!!!~~~~~~~~~~~

m'kay. So I was gonna make more stuff after mello said 'panicking,' but it always ended up sucky. Oh well.

And has anyone else noticed how matt friction from pink spider looks exactly like our favorite mattie? Roflcopter :D


End file.
